Tag: SpaceX
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Musk wants to make Falcon rockets fully reusable
This illustration of a Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage re-entering the atmosphere is part of an animation released in 2011. SpaceX officials have not discussed technical details of how the company would recover upper stages under founder Elon Musk’s latest emphasis on the project. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX chief Elon Musk said last week he is…
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SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell says rockets should fly almost as often as airplanes
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell watches a video of a Falcon 9 rocket landing during her talk to the 33rd Space Symposium. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell isn’t satisfied with last week’s history-making relaunch and landing of a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket. The way she sees it,…
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SpaceX opens new era for spaceflight with successful core stage reuse
For SpaceX and its founder Elon Musk, it was a day 15 years in the making. The accomplishment Thursday evening of launching a flight-proven Falcon 9 core stage and landing it yet again on the ASDS barge, Of Course I Still Love You, is a stunning and beautiful feat of engineering that opens the door…
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SpaceX conducts historic Falcon 9 re-flight with SES-10 – Lands booster again
SpaceX took a step into the future Thursday as it reused – for the first time – a recovered first stage of a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket. Thursday’s mission, carrying the SES-10 communications satellite, lifted off from Pad 39A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 18:27 local time (22:27 UTC) and once again landed the…
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It’s another first for SpaceX! Previously launched Falcon 9 rocket lifts off and lands a second time
SpaceX’s first reflown Falcon 9 booster rises from its Florida launch pad. (SpaceX Photo) Today SpaceX did something it’s never done before: reusing a Falcon 9 rocket booster that’s already been launched and landed. The Falcon 9 mission to send the SES-10 communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit lifted off at 6:27 p.m. ET (3:27…
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Launch a rocket every day? SpaceX’s Elon Musk kicks it up a notch for reusability
SpaceX founder Elon Musk talks about the significance of the first relaunch of a Falcon 9 rocket booster. (SpaceX via YouTube) SpaceX took nearly a year to relaunch its first “flight-proven” Falcon 9 booster, but within a year or two, company founder Elon Musk expects to be able to launch the same rocket day after…
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SES-10 F9 static fire – SpaceX for history books & first core stage re-flight
In what is anticipated to be the first of many such occasions, SpaceX has conducted the all-important static fire on Monday of the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that will be tasked with lofting the SES-10 mission to orbit next week. Of historic importance is the fact that this first stage has already…
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Arcadia on the map: For future Mars landing sites, SpaceX thinks ice is nice
SpaceX’s current favorite place to land on Mars is reportedly Arcadia Planitia, which combines flat terrain, potential deposits of water ice and an equatorial region well-suited for solar power. According to Space News, that’s the word from SpaceX’s Paul Wooster, who’s working with NASA to identify potential landing sites for the privately held company’s Red Dragon…
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Air Force reveals plan for up to 48 launches per year from Cape Canaveral
Following the successful launch of a Delta IV rocket with the WGS-9 satellite Saturday night, Brigadier General Wayne R. Monteith and Major General David D. Thompson of the U.S. Air Force discussed the 45th Space Wing’s plan to ramp up to 48 launches per year – a feat made possible in large part due to…
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CRS-10 Dragon completes homecoming to conclude successful ISS mission
The latest SpaceX Dragon spacecraft concluded her mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Unberthing of the CRS-10 Dragon from the orbital outpost on Sunday began the critical End Of Mission (EOM) milestones, which was marked with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. CRS-10: The CRS-10 Dragon was launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 carrier…